No Depression

Why is any of this a surprise to anyone?

Fox:

Bernanke: Pace of Economic Growth to Be 'Frustratingly Slow'

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the pace of economic growth will probably be "frustratingly slow," after the institution downgraded its outlook over the next two years.

Bernanke, at his third news conference of the year, said the central bank is looking for economic activity and labor market conditions to improve gradually over the next two years, but at a sluggish pace.

Bernanke cited the debt crisis in Europe as a particular concern for confidence and growth in the U.S.

The comments came after the Federal Reserve sketched a bleaker forecast for the economy, which it thinks will grow much more slowly and face higher unemployment than it had estimated in June.

The Fed now predicts the economy will grow at a scant 1.6 percent to 1.7 percent for 2011. For 2012, it thinks growth will range between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent. Both forecasts are roughly a full percentage point lower than its June forecast.

The Fed sees unemployment of between 8.5 percent and 8.7 percent next year. In June, it had predicted unemployment would drop next year to as low as 7.8 percent. The rate is now 9.1 percent.

The Fed's gloomier outlook is similar to many private economists' forecasts. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for example, expects only 1.8 percent economic growth this year and 2.1 percent in 2012.

Those growth rates are far too low to drive down unemployment.

Even so, the Fed said after its policy meeting that the economy had improved since nearly stalling in the spring. As a result, it's putting off any new actions so it can gauge the impact of steps it's already taken.

Fed policymakers made the announcement after a two-day meeting.

In a statement, the officials said consumers have stepped up spending. Still, they said the economy continues to face significant risks, including the debt crisis and risk of recession in Europe.

The Fed left open the possibility of taking further steps later to try to boost the sluggish economy. But it gave no hint as to what those moves might be.

"They're noting the better growth numbers but remain pretty cautious," said Michael Feroli, a former Fed economist now with JPMorgan Chase & Co. "They're not celebrating by any means, which probably is appropriate."

The vote was 9-1. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, dissented. The statement said Evans wanted to take stronger action to try to boost the economy.

The vote was a shift from the previous two Fed meetings, when three members had dissented for the opposite reason: They opposed the Fed's continued efforts to keep rates at super-lows, for fear it could ignite inflation. Those three members, known as inflation "hawks," dropped their opposition this time.

Some analysts said the shift didn't necessarily mean the Fed is any likelier to take any additional action soon to try to boost the economy.

"The view of the hawks is that once the decision has been made by the majority, it just causes confusion if they continue to vote to roll back action that has already been taken," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

Some analysts said they expected the Fed to take further action to support the economy at coming meetings, given their expectation that growth will remain sub-par.

"Policymakers are keeping the door open because the unemployment rate remains high, and there are clear downside risks from the economic situation in Europe," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

After their September meeting, the policymakers said they would shuffle the Fed's investment portfolio to try to further reduce long-term interest rates. And in their previous meeting in August, they had said they plan to keep short-term rates near zero until at least mid-2013, unless the economy improved.

The Fed repeated the mid-2013 target in its statement Wednesday. It also said it was continuing its program to rebalance its portfolio to try to lower long-term rates.

The Fed has kept its key short-term interest rate at a record low since December 2008. This is the rate that banks charge on overnight loans. It serves as the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans.

Later Wednesday, the Fed will also release its economic forecasts, and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a news conference.

The Fed noted that growth strengthened over the summer, in part because temporary factors that had weighed on the economy in the spring had eased. Consumers are able to spend a little more because gas prices have declined from their May peak of roughly $4 a gallon. And auto sales and production have picked up now that supply chains disrupted by the March earthquake in Japan are flowing more freely.

But the Fed said the job market remains weak. And it suggested that the troubles in Europe could hurt U.S. growth.

The debt crisis in Europe could force the Fed to lower its economic projections. The Greek prime minister's surprise move to call a referendum on the country's latest rescue plan sparked fears that the debt deal could unravel, that Greece could default on its debt and that the crisis could infect the global financial system.

Even if Europe dodges a financial catastrophe, many economists think it's headed for a recession that would affect the U.S. and global economies. The Fed expressed such concerns after its August meeting.

Still, the Fed remains deeply divided over what, if any, action to take next.

The actions taken in August and September were adopted on 7-3 votes, the most dissents in nearly 20 years.

Three regional bank presidents -- Richard Fisher of Dallas, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia and Narayana Kocherlakota of Minneapolis -- all voted no. They have expressed concerns that the Fed's policies could lead to high inflation later.

On the other hand, Vice Chair Janet Yellen, Governor Daniel Tarullo, Evans and New York Fed President William Dudley have said the economy is at risk and might need more support.

Two officials pushed for bolder action at the September meeting, according to minutes. The members discussed more bond-buying. Some said it should remain an option.

A brighter outlook for the economy has given the Fed more room to wait. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September period -- the best quarterly performance in a year. That was largely because consumers increased their spending at triple the rate from the previous quarter.

The growth is strong enough to show that the economy isn't about to slide into recession. Still, growth would have to be nearly twice as high -- consistently -- to make a major dent in the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at 9.1 percent for three straight months.

Evans has proposed that the Fed set benchmarks for raising rates. For example, it could agree not to raise short-term rates until unemployment fell below 7 percent or the outlook for inflation exceeded 3 percent. The unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for more than two years, and the Fed's inflation outlook is under 2 percent.

WSJ:

Some 15% of U.S. Uses Food Stamps
By Phil Izzo

Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million.

Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1% in the past year, the Department of Agriculture reported, though the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession.

Click image for full-size interactive map of food stamp use by state.

The number of recipients in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may continue to rise in coming months as families continue to struggle with high unemployment and September’s data will likely include disaster assistance tied to the destruction and flooding caused by Hurricane Irene.

Mississippi reported the largest share of its population relying on food stamps, more than 21%. One in five residents in New Mexico, Tennessee, Oregon and Louisiana also were food stamp recipients.

Food stamp rolls exploded during the downturn, which began in late 2007. Even after the recession came to its official end in June 2009, families continued to tap into food assistance as unemployment remained high and those lucky enough to find jobs were often met with lower wages.

States also made changes to make it easier for residents to tap into the program, such as waiving requirements that limited the value of assets food stamp recipients could own.

Local 10:

Thousands Line Up For Casino Work
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek Hiring 800 People

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. -- Thousands of people lined up Wednesday for a chance to get a job in South Florida.

There were people everywhere in the parking lot at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, which is hosting a job fair to fill 800 newly created full-time positions.

All of the jobs will be filled by the projected February 2012 completion of the casino's $150 million expansion project.

The job fair lasts until 6 p.m. Wednesday in the West Lot Pavilion at the casino, located at 5550 Northwest 40th St. in Coconut Creek. That is just east of State Road 7 and north of Sample Road.Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is looking to hire many positions, "from service to management, to technical staff and dealers," said general manager Steve Bonner.

Bonner said the casino is hiring chefs, cooks, servers, bartenders, cocktail servers, restaurant managers and other restaurant and lounge team members.New gaming employee jobs will include dealers, hosts, player's club representatives, cashiers, customer service attendants and slot machine technicians.

Other jobs will be in operations, security, building/grounds maintenance and housekeeping.Seminole Casino Coconut Creek's current gaming space will more than double after the expansion. There will also be three new restaurants.

Washington Times:

Obama tweaks answer on performance

President Obama, who startled some observers a month ago by saying Americans were not better off under his leadership, has taken another stab at the question.

"Well, you know, I think that we are better off now than we would have been if I hadn't taken all the steps that we took," Mr. Obama told a Minneapolis television reporter Tuesday during a round of interviews at the White House.

It was a different twist on the same question posed to the president last month. On Oct. 3, when asked whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago, Mr. Obama replied: "Well, I don't think they are better off than they were four years ago. They're not better off than they were before Lehman’s collapse, before the financial crisis, before this extraordinary recession that we're going through."

At the time, one newspaper said Mr. Obama had just given Republicans "a convenient sound bite for next year's election."

---------------

and finally, NO ONE IS DISCUSSING JOBS YOU FUCKING MORON. NOT SERIOUSLY ANYWAY< AND ONLY AS IT PERTAINS TO KEEPING THEIR OWN

Real Clear Politics:

Carney: Without Obama's Jobs Plan No One Would Be Discussing Jobs

White House press secretary Jay Carney rhetorically asked at his briefing today that if not for Obama, would the Republicans even be corned about jobs and the economy? Transcript:

Carney: Without Obama Jobs Proposal No One Would Be Talking About Jobs

Question: "On the President invoking God. A House Republican aide said the "In God We Trust" [bill] were procedural matters [that took] less than 20 minutes or so. Again, this person pointing out that they have these 20 bills that they passed that were creating jobs --"

Carney: "The number keeps increasing. 15?"

Dan: "20 is the number. But, is that a fair jab from the President?"

Carney: "I think the other day, when they were dealing with the commemorative coin bill, I might of read, or I think I read the agenda for the day which was quite anemic and included that. And whether it took 20 minutes or not, the fact is they were out of town by 3pm.

"The point the President is making broadly is that -- if not for the President's insistence on pushing the American Jobs Act, would we be having a debate about jobs and the economy, right now in Washington? Or would Congress be -- or would the Republicans in Congress be divorced from the reality that Americans are encountering everyday. They would be debating matters wholly unrelated to the primary concerns of the American people. I think that's possible. I know that the Democrats would be out there push this and certainly the President is."